Wagner Carrilho has taken a swipe at the tabloids for their constant negative stories about him.

The Dudley-based 54-year-old claimed that the press had attached labels on him to ridicule his performances and described their stories as "rubbish".

Speaking to Konnie Huq on the Xtra Factor, Carrilho said: "I read [the press] sometimes and I found it very annoying how the tabloids, who are despicable, labelled me as 'the Brazilian'. They called me 'the wacko Brazilian', 'the mad Brazilian'.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

"It is incorrect. I am British-Brazilian. But I became an easy pray for the tabloids, because they sell rubbish, so they thought, 'let's get Wagner a label'. And that's what they did."

However, the former PE teacher insisted that he wasn't downhearted about his exit from the ITV1 show, claiming that he "always expected to go".